Book Discussion-The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

Program Type:

Book Discussion

Age Group:

Adults
Please note you are looking at an event that has already happened.

Program Description

Event Details

This month, we'll discuss James McBride's The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, a novel about small-town secrets and the people who keep them.

In 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for a new development, the last thing they expected to find was a skeleton at the bottom of a well. Who the skeleton was and how it got there were two of the long-held secrets kept by the residents of Chicken Hill, the dilapidated neighborhood where immigrant Jews and African Americans lived side by side and shared ambitions and sorrows. Chicken Hill was where Moshe and Chona Ludlow lived when Moshe integrated his theater and where Chona ran the Heaven & Earth Grocery Store. When the state came looking for a deaf boy to institutionalize him, it was Chona and Nate Timblin, the Black janitor at Moshe’s theater and the unofficial leader of the Black community on Chicken Hill, who worked together to keep the boy safe.

Disclaimer(s)

Accessibility

Special services like sign language interpretation and assistive listening can be provided at events to patrons upon request. Please give at least up to five business days notice to library staff in order to schedule services at events. Call 239-479-4636 or stop by the reference desk at your local library.

Photography During Programs

While attending library programs, visitors may be photographed by library staff. Photographs become library property and may be used in library promotions. Individuals who do not want to be photographed or recorded are responsible for removing themselves from the area or notifying the photographer of their opt-out status.